Page 63 - Extraterrestrials, Foreign and Domestic

SIFTING’s End

way, General: although they might not be up to military standards, we
do follow security procedures here. Let me assure you that the
message is backed up on several remote servers with access
controlled by passwords known only to Professor South and me. It is
getting late, and I am way too old for this much excitement. Come
along, Norton. Sal, I’m sure you and the general can come to an
understanding: maybe you can join the army!”
The professors passed two checkpoints on their way out of the
physical sciences building. Vyelle guided his colleague along an
unfamiliar route to their destination.
“Why are we going this way, Dorrance? It’s shorter across the
quad.”
“Indeed it is. But our minders don’t know that. A directional mike
could pick up our conversation on the quad. Not here. Not between
buildings, especially when one of them is the mechanical unit. Air
conditioning runs all night here in the summer. Thank you for
calming down in there. I think we’re going to make it.”
Doctor South was puzzled.
“Make it? Why shouldn’t we make it to the parking lot? And what
was all that about secure backups? I didn’t know about them.”
“I’ll say this quickly, Norton. If I hadn’t let that General know we
had copies of the transmission he couldn’t get his hands on, our lives
wouldn’t have been worth a dime.”
“What! Are they that determined to keep the contact secret? What
about poor Sal? You didn’t include him.”
Professor Vyelle snorted. “He’s one of them. How do you suppose
they got here so quickly?”
Norton felt his sense of reality slipping. “So you knew all this
would happen if SIFTING ever fulfilled its mission?”
“Within limits. These military people flatter themselves as superior
strategists after a few sessions at West Point studying Clausewitz and
moving toy soldiers around. Few of them can see as far ahead as any
pacifist chess player worth his salt. They are the servants of empire,
and their mission is to stifle disorder. Their response to alien
messages will be twofold: block their reception, destroy and distort
them if any leak through, even plant false competitive messages—
while at the same time mounting a crash project to develop weaponry
for a war in space. The first part would be aimed at the aliens as well

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